Best scope for Ruger mini 14

When you have less than perfect eyesight and need help with your hunting, it is recommended to look for the best sight for Mini 14. Why Mini 14 you might ask? Because there is no solid inform that recommends the best possible sight optics for this gun. It is interesting because there are plenty of good reviews for other models but when it comes to the Mini 14, there is only forums posts and such.

To remedy this, below is what I think are the best optics for your Mini 14.

Vortex Optics StrikeFire 2 review

The Vortex Strikefire 2 gets my vote for the best scope for Mini 14. It improves upon the successful version one and makes it even more compelling to purchase.

Vortex strikefire vs strikefire 2

Version 1 already hits a lot of high marks in terms of accuracy, battery life, performance and built quality. The only thing holding it back from a perfect score was 2 major problems which is: (i) accidental turning on and off and (ii) lens caps are always opening by themselves. The version 2 corrected the 2 drawbacks and as a result, made it into one of the best scope on a Mini 14 for the money.

Pros of Vortex Strikefire 2

The Vortex Strikefire 2 is a scope that performs really well without needing to pay big bucks for it. It is incredibly stable once it is mounted on your Mini 14. No matter how many rounds you shoot, the mount will not move and that will really improves your hunting performance. Within the 200 range, it is hard to find another scope that is as good and as affordable as the Strikefire. Some deer hunters even used it in the 200-300 range.

Besides the performance, the Vortex Strikefire 2 has unlimited eye relief., which means you don’t have to place your eye directly in front of the scope. Unfortunately, this version did away with the magnifying zoom. The good news though is that you can attach the zoom from version one to this and it will still work.

Other notable benefits include being fog proof

Vortex strikefire 2 vs Aimpoint pro

One way to tell if a product is good or not is to compare with the top of the line model and see how far they are apart. In the case of optics, the top model is the Aimpoint pro. Performance and accuracy wise, I would say both models are pretty close. However, there are some differences and below is a list showing what they are:

MOA dot: Aimpoint pro has a 4 moa dot while the Vortex Strikefast has 2

Color of aim: Aimpoint has only green while Vortex has both green and red

Mount: Aimpoint has a cantilever mount while the Vortex Strikefire 2 doesn’t. This is the biggest advantage that the Aimpoint pro has. For those who do not know, a cantilever mount allows the scope to be mounted further away from the back and prevents tunnel vision. In other words, it can possibly improve the aim of the hunter, although it is not always the case.

Battery life: Vortex can last you around 2 years while Aimpoint has around 3 years of battery life

Price: Vortex Strikefast is around 50% of the what the Aimpoint Pro is retailing for. That is a huge savings and is one of the reason I recommend the former rather than the later

Country of manufacture: The Vortex Strikefast is made in China which probably explains for its lower retail price.

Burris Fastfire III review

Another great option is the Burris Fastfire III which is an excellent piece of accessory. One of its eye catching feature is that its size. This is literally one of the smallest tactical scope you will see for a Mini 14, which is actually suitable since the Mini 14 isn’t exactly the largest hunting rifle. When placed on the gun, you will not feel any significant weight that might affect your accuracy.

The built and quality is also unquestionable. It is compact, easy to mount and doesn’t rattle when being moved about. Best of all, Burris will include a set of high quality tools such as screwdrivers and screws to assist you in any set up or screwing operations.

The Fastfire III has a super long battery life. You can easily get two years of usage without change, which is similar to the TRS-25. What this means is that you don’t need to fiddle with the changing of batteries which can be quite cumbersome for such a small sized scope.

Similar to the Vortex Strikefire 2, this sight optics has a unlimited eye relief scope. However, there is no magnification option which the Vortex has.

In terms of drawbacks, there is one feature that might bug some of your and that is the way you choose the settings. Instead of an on and off switch, you get to press a button. When you want to choose other options, you need to cycle through the button presses to find the one you need. This can be troublesome especially if you need to change options during a hunt. However, the most inconvenient part about this is the low light setting. Since you are just pressing the same button multiple times to get the low light option, it can be confusing when this low light setting doesn’t kicked in. You will be wondering if you have cycled through the button presses correctly or if the dot isn’t showing up correctly.

Conclusion

In my mind, the best scope for Mini 14 is the Vortex Strikefast 2. It comes out ahread of the Fastfire III because it is simpler to use. Both scopes have good performance but the button cycling approach of the latter might turn some of you off. However, Fastfire III is the smallest and lightest sight optics so some might prefer this over the Strikeforce 2.